Harper Says Whatever Happens To English Canadians In Quebec Is A Provincial Matter

I have written about our deplorable treatment of our First Nations People in the past and in the present at great length and our disgusting treatment of people who immigrated here by our invitation once we had no further use for them like the Chinese. I have talked about the forced relocation of the people of Africville with the bulldozing down of family homes and the throwing of the inhabitants possessions into the backs of garbage trucks and dump trucks without care as to damage. If these actions were not being perpetrated by the federal and provincial governments, or sanctioned by the federal, or provincial governments of the day, those two branches of government were guilty of knowing of what was going on and turning a blind eye to the inexcusable acts of racism, cruelty and at times acts of genocide that was being inflicted on certain people throughout Canadian history and it is still going on today.

I would like to speak of a modern-day form of racism that has nothing to do with treaty rights, or immigration laws. This speaks to the mistreatment that one group of Canadians have been inflicting on another group of Canadians in a Canadian province. The federal governments for years now have turned a blind eye to this problem, either hoping that by ignoring the problem it will somehow right itself, or the problem would just go away . It is the province of Quebec‘s Separatists and political parties to which I speak and their mission to, (1) remove the province of Quebec from Canada and barring that (2) remove the spoken and written language of English from Quebec along with any English institutions, be they schools, hospitals etc..

This is not a new fight for the Separatists, but lately it has gotten to be more than just having French language on signs larger and Quebec being recognised as a distinct society, The new push for sovereignty by Pauline Marois has put the Quebec government in direct violation of federal language law and the federal government turns its head and refuses to come to the aid of its citizens. If this was not bad enough there is a new Quebec strategy underway to change who can run for public office in Quebec, by trying to not accept any candidate for any political office in the province of Quebec if they can not pass a French competency test. Why are we giving transfer payments to a provincial government whose leader is visiting countries like Scotland for no other reason, but to discuss and develop strategies to achieve separation from Canada?

In a province where it is almost becoming illegal to speak English and to do so has already caused people to be attacked verbally in hospitals by angry Separatists, attacked physically on the rapid transit system by metro personnel and bus drivers, offended because they were asked questions, or directions in English and told that even though there are two official languages of Canada there is only one in Quebec can we agree that this last attempt to take over the political system and block Anglo politicians access to run in it by language law goes a bit too far. Can we agree that this government is racist; that it seeks to turn Canadian against Canadian is bad enough, but that it knowingly seeks to deny political access to some English Canadian politicians, based solely on which of the two official languages they are fluent in, is knocking on the door of a one party system and an affront to democracy? This type of law seeks to put limits on who the English people living in the province can or will have the option of voting for and in my opinion moves closer to how they do things in Russia or China; vote for which ever communist party you like. Denying access to the political arena except under special circumstances, is a violation of every Canadian citizen’s rights and this I feel is where the federal government needs to step up to the plate and uphold the guarantees it enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Canadian Constitution.

The situation is so bad in Quebec that even when a government is in power that is not separatist, but rather wants to stay in Canada it is afraid to repeal even bills or laws that are unconstitutional for fear that it would tip the scales and the moderate French Quebecers would join ranks with the separatists and so the English-speaking person of Quebec suffers with no representation or justice under the law of Quebec, or Canada. Living in Quebec as an English-speaking person I feel like a sacrifice being offered up to some monster to keep it placated so that it does not destroy the rest of the country and I begin to wonder if this is the case than why am I paying taxes to Canada at all? Why not just give Quebec its freedom with its borders as they were before confederation and allow all those Quebecers who wish to remain in the new Canada a time frame to move. I mean Sovereignty Association what is that and why pray tell would English Canada want it?

I for one grow weary of watching as:

Quebec’s infrastructure crumbles to dust; not knowing when you go on an over pass or a bridge if it will be the last thing one ever does

The wait times for life saving operations get longer, waiting times in emergency rooms get longer, while we pay language police to measure signage

Business after business leave Quebec, because of Quebec’s racist and expensive language laws

A separatist government now led by Pauline Marois take monies meant to enrich the lives of Quebecers/Canadians spent on things like promoting Quebec as a nation around the world

Pauline Marois’s revelation that she will be making Quebec’s Sovereignty her government’s top priority is no surprise, but calling on her followers and supporters to push by any means necessary to achieve that goal given the tension in Quebec right now is willfully negligent at best. In a climate where there has been incidences of violence between French and English over English been spoken in public, is throwing a match on an already potential tinder box just waiting for a tiny spark to ignite it a good idea? I would suggest that this type of political rhetoric that could be mistaken for an acceptance by their leader of a violent solution and call to initiate a civil war, won in blood rather than at the polls should not be allowed in Canada, too bad Harper thinks that it is a provincial matter and out of his jurisdiction.

The federal government will still have the right to use 50/50 English-to-French signs within the buildings and institutions under its power that are located within Québec. And, ultimately, that’s where its jurisdiction ends.

So why not just let Quebec go so it drowns in a world where French will not be protected by Canadian law like it is now. The only reason anyone other then Quebec puts up with the stupid language laws is that it is Canadian law to be bilingual, but once Quebec is gone a biligual Canada may be a hard sell

I think that is where the problem lies. People keep talking about Quebec like it is a country, with the rights of a country. Quebec is a province in Canada. The principle of self-determination does not apply here, at least not yet. How can one be seen as something that they are not? Canada is the country and under the principle you mentioned Canada has chosen to have 2 official languages and they are French and English, by what right does Quebec say different?

It’s when Harper recognized the people of Québec as a nation that it got tricky. I figure the Mohawk people are free to make Mohawk language their official language if they want. The people of Québec should also be able to do so. It’s on the appiication of the concept that it gets tricky. Nobody likes to see discrimination on either side. I certainly do not.

I do not believe in discrimination either. I think that we should all be able to choose what language we speak in. I do not know what else you need language police for but to impose discriminatory laws on an unwilling population, do you? I have never heard of such a thing happening anywhere else in the world, or in Canada, other than in Quebec, have you?

I never thought of comparing to other countries before. So I google searched, and found an article with a similar situation in NY. They bring up a few examples, including the nazis, but they also bring a point that I had never thought of: Foreign language street sign make it difficult for the fire and police departments.

I think that we would all agree that French should be spoken in Quebec, but I think that if the English would have used the same methods back then as the French are using now in Quebec, we would not be having this discussion, because there would be nothing left to save. I believe that the more the separatists in Quebec try to force the language issue the more resistance they will be met with by English Quebeckers. I do not think that we should copy the Nazis approach, do you? (Smile)

The Brits did use those tactics with the Acadians, and it pretty much worked. As far as the francophones of lower Canada, well they outnumbered their anglophones counterparts 10 to 1. So a compromise had to be made. At least, that’s the way I remember it. As much as Canada could do a better job when it comes to offering services in french, Québec could be making more of an effort too, if not by offering services in english, at least by being more polite when denying the said services.

I do not agree, but hey that is life. I believe in saying it like it is. The French were never told they could not speak their language or it would be gone. There were no language police. The rest of Canada does not have language police to my knowledge ensuring that French is not used. What is going on in Quebec in my opinion is wrong and is ethnocide. You say that government of Canada should offer more services to the French in French, while in the same breath suggesting that the government of Quebec need only be polite in their refusal to offer services in English to the English and I say, ” that is crazy”. I think we live in a bilingual country and until Quebec wins its independence and becomes a country legally it should follow the laws of the country. That is my opinion, and obviously ours differ and are not about to change at this point in time, but that is life. Be well and nice talking about this with you, perhaps we shall do it again? Have a great day!